Tough
by EverydayGleek
Summary: During their daily morning jog, Regina finds out just how tough her wife really is. SwanQueen.


**A/N: Okay, so this was a prompt, given to me by a fellow FF user. If you're reading, I hope you enjoy it! I'm accepting prompt requests for one-shots if any of you are interested. If you are, follow me on Tumblr (link is in my profile), and if you don't have a tumblr, send it to me in PM! Enjoy!**

"Could you be any slower?" Regina admonishes her wife playfully, stopping in her tracks and waiting for her uncharacteristically sluggish wife to catch up. Emma pouts at Regina, dragging her feet against the concrete, and makes her way to the brunette slowly. Regina waits patiently for the blonde to reach her, placing her hands on her short-clad hips, and tapping her foot against the concrete pavement. "Are you being this slow on purpose, or are you really this out of shape?" The brunette asks with a raised brow, watching as her wife's pout deepens. Regina sighs softly, and walks up to her wife, taking the blonde's hand into her own. "Okay, what's up with you? During our morning jogs, you're usually a mile ahead of me by now."

"I may have pulled a muscle during my kickboxing class last night." Emma mumbles pathetically to her wife, earning a sympathetic smile in return.

"Where does it hurt?" Regina asks, looking over her wife as if to pinpoint where her pain is located. Emma smiles at Regina's concern, and shakes her head.

"It's okay, I'll be fine. I took some painkillers and did some stretches before we left. All I need to do now is walk it out, and I'll be good as new." Emma reassures her wife. Regina nods—not entirely convinced—but leaves it alone, not in the mood to fight her wife on this. Whenever Emma gets hurt, she refuses Regina's offer to magic the pain away. There has only been a handful of times where Emma has allowed Regina to heal her, and those were only in dire situations where she was seriously injured. When it comes to things like pulled muscles, paper cuts, and headaches, Emma doesn't want to be healed; she just wants to let the pain go away on its own. And Regina tries to respect that. She really does. But she just can't. Unknown to Emma, Regina always ends up healing her in her sleep. When the blonde wakes up the next morning, completely devoid of pain, she smugly tells Regina of how she's just a naturally fast healer and doesn't need Regina to baby her. Regina internally laughs at that statement every time.

"If you say so, hun." Regina says to her wife, walking alongside her at a slow pace. Regina continues to hold Emma's hand in hers, swinging their arms back and forth, while glancing down at their matching wedding bands—the silver of the rings sparkling in the sunlight. As the two continue to walk at a leisurely pace, Regina notices her wife's shoelaces are untied. "Hey, Em, your shoe is untied." Emma looks down at her untied laces, then back up at Regina, and shrugs.

"So?"

"So, you should tie it before you trip and get hurt."

"Who are you? My mother?" Emma asks in mock-seriousness, nudging Regina in the shoulder playfully. Regina scoffs at the comparison, scowling at her wife, while trying to pull her hand out of the blonde's grasp. Emma chuckles loudly at that, and holds Regina's hand tighter, pulling her back to her side. Regina continues to scowl and ignores the smile Emma sends her way. Emma leans over and places a kiss on her wife's cheek, successfully ridding her wife's face of the scowl. "I'm only joking. So anyway, let's start jogging."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Regina asks with a quirked brow, looking down at the blonde's slight limp to her step. Instead of answering, Emma takes off in a discombobulated sprint, her run resembling what the hunchback of Notre Dame would look like if he were to run. "Honey, be careful!" Regina calls out, jogging after the blonde.

And that's when it happens.

It's like a slow-motion video, right before the disaster is about to strike. Regina watches as Emma stumbles over her shoelaces, going down like the titanic. Regina tries to jog to her, hoping to stop her fall, but she's too late. Emma has fallen down—knees first—onto the concrete pavement. Regina immediately kneels before her wife, taking in the sight of her uncharacteristically teary eyes and deep frown. Regina eyes the blonde's bare knees, seeing them completely scratched up and bloody. She tries to touch them, but Emma slaps her hand away with a sniffle.

"Em, let me see." Regina says softly, trying to coerce Emma into letting her inspect the damage.

"No. I'm fine." Emma says with tears streaming down her face, her bottom lip wobbling uncontrollably. Regina smiles adoringly at the usually tough woman, and uses the pad of her thumb to wipe away the falling tears.

"You're not fine. Let me get a look at it." Regina tries again, trying to get a hold of her wife's leg. Emma sighs in defeat and allows Regina to inspect the wound. "It's not too bad—bloody, yes—but not too bad." Regina says softly, biting her lip to hold back her laughter at the whimpering woman. This is the woman who can handle pulled or torn muscles, yet, turns into a sobbing mess when she scrapes her knees. It's adorable. Emma sniffles loudly, her stifled sobs becoming more audible. "Babe?" Regina tries.

"Y-yes?"

"Would you like me to heal it?"

"No." Emma says, slapping Regina's hand away for the second time.

"Emma."

"…..fine…" Emma mutters out lowly, averting her gaze from her wife's triumphant smirk. Regina places her hand over the bruised knees—a purple glow illuminating from her hand—and heals the wound. Emma breathes a little easier, her sniffles becoming quieter with passed time. Regina brushes a stray blonde strand out of her wife's eyes, and smiles.

"Do you want me to heal the rest of you?"

"No, I can manage." Emma says stubbornly, rising to her feet very slowly. Regina tries to help her up, only to have her hand slapped away. "I'm fine, Gina. Now are we going to finish this jog or what?" Emma asks defensively, her ego obviously hurt. Regina takes in the tear tracks on the blonde's face, her red, puffy eyes, and her bright red nose, and smiles adoringly at the woman before her. She places a kiss on the other woman's cheek, and turns on her heels to resume their delayed jog. As the two women resume their jog, Emma, unfortunately, trips over her untied laces for the second time, landing right onto her newly healed knees.

"Fuck!" Emma yells out, the tears already forming in her eyes. Regina sighs and kneels down before her wife.

"Do you want me to heal it again?"

"No…"

This was going to be a long jog.

**A/N: The prompt was: Emma scraping her knees and acting like a baby who refuses Regina's help. **


End file.
